Negotiating from a point of weakness
My daughter Amy emailed me this joke:
This is how business is done!
Father: “I want you to marry a girl of my choice.”
Son: “I will choose my own bride!”
Father: “But the girl is Bill Gates’ daughter.”
Son: “Well in that case…ok”
Next — Father approaches Bill Gates
Father: “I have a husband for your daughter.”
Bill Gates: “But my daughter is too young to marry!”
Father: “But this young man is a vice-president of the World Bank.”
Bill Gates: “Ah, in that case…ok”
Finally Father goes to see the President of the World Bank.
Father: “I have a young man to be recommended as a vice-president.”
President: “But I already have more vice-presidents than I need!”
Father: “But this young man is Bill Gates’ son-in-law.”
President: “Ah, in that case…ok”
Moral: Even if you have nothing, you can get anything if you know how to negotiate and sequence your offer in the right order.
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